Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1887-05-12
STARTLING RESULTS.
CEREBRAL PHENOMENA IN CONNec.
TON WITH ALCOHOLISM.

from Dublin to hing
for scientist. to Look Auer-A Double
Man.
In going from London 10 Dublin had pur
chased round trip tickets. The route WAS 10y
rail to Holly head. on the coast uf Wales,
thence hy steamer across the Irish sea to
Kingstown, Ireland, and then rail To Dublin.
Under the guidance of Mr.. DhlOn's secre-
tary while visiting the various points of in
terest | was induced Ia drink a good deal of
Irish whisky. The people whom we encoun-
tered were sociabie and pressing IN their hos
pitality, the more especially as the guest was
an American, for whom it did not seem that
they could do enough
The last day Of NV stay the potations wrre
frequent and the leave taking effusive and
impressive | never was fond of alcoholic
drinks, but my scruples against extended
libations were met 10y the assertion that Irish
whisky was pure extract, without headache
or other i'll after effects Ny associates would
toss of three glasses to NV one, the mean
while exhibiting no signs Of intoNication.
The train was TO leave about O'Clock in the
afternoon, and a little before that hour my
escort bade me good 10y and left me at the
Shelbourne house Ny head was perfectly
clear up to this point Neither any of the
party nor myself was unduly eIhiarated
There was none of the hoisterousness, the
raised voices, characteristic of inebriety.
There was simply stimulated good feeling,
50 to speak, when We parted. l called for MY
bill paid it, and had a carriage sent TO take
me 10 the depot. lentere,l the vehicle, waved
a salute to the porter and started.
II was daylight, and | was seated in a first
class compartment in railway train. |
glanced out of the window and recognized the
hedges and the quaint farm houses of Eng
land. Two pIen We're in the compartment
besides myself glanced III their faces, ana
saw nothing TO excite uneaSiuesS-that a
there was nothing ia their conversation OF
their attitude toward me To indicate that
there was anything unusual ia the situation.
A moment before | WAS in carriage leaving
the Shelbourne house and the next moment
was speeding through England; in fact, il wa'
not five minutes after | found myself in tbs
car before the smoke of London began to ap-
pear on the horizon. and but little later
when the train halted in Euston station. In
time. as railways measure it, the distance he
tween Dublin and London is seventeen hours
For that period, then, as it soon dawnei on
me, had been unconscious
People who have ever passed the bounds of
sobriety in their use of liquor know what con
stitutes the ordinary nature Of intoxication.
There is a variation. of course, according to
tie nerves, the brain, the physical condition
Fl the person. In the case of none, however,
bap ha Of
insensibility are really absolute blanks The
intoxicated person will have dim glimmerings
through the darkness in which he fingered; :;
that he parted with this or that person at
ruch point; that he mounted car or Ell
tered a carriage. or that he saw the acquaint-
ance during the period Of his drunkenness.
Such was not my experience The ordinary
form of intoxication leaves an impression of
q lapse Of time Of greater or less duration. In
my case the hotel in Dublin and Euston were
separated by no time save such the brief
minutes elapsed after | recovered conscious
hess up TO reaching the station. | must have
been driven TO the depot, where | entered th,,
cars and was taken by them to Kingston
At that point | must have gone aboard the
packet, and on reaching Holyhead | must
have gone from the boat TO the London train
Now, all this was accomplished without diff
fculty. for my clothing was undisturbed in
any manner, and my watch. money and
everything else in place as they were when /
left Dublin
II is impossible TO conceive that was as
sisted into trains or of and on the boat, or
was carried. for the reason that nv hair and
clothing were in perfect order / had GER
tainly undergone no handling on the part OF
strangers. | had evidently. if NAV Judge
by the attitude of the two yieu IA the com
partment with ate, Deen guilty of no indis
cfvnon, or anything unseemly when entering
the car, or they would have watched HE with
curious glances when woke.
In the condition in which | was plunged,
for seventeen hours of which I have no re-
membrance whatever, must have appeared
no different from the ordinary traveller and
have attracted no especial attention. In
other words, TO use a common expression,
must have been drunk TO a mott extraordi-
nary extent; so much so that memory utterly
failed me, and yet in condition in which |
was able TO conduct myself and my affairs in
a manner 10 attract no notice
Here were clearly two conditions in which
WAS placed at the same moment, each of
which Is exactly unlike the other-antagonis |
tic in every particular. | was two distinct |
persons, one of whom WIS intoxicated to pro- |
found lnsenSibiliry, and the other of whom |
was able to select routes. change from one |
class of vehicle of transportation 70 another. |
to hand out tickets, presumably in all ways to |
conduct himself so as to be above the s,,s-
olcion of being i'll an abnormal condition / |
was grossly intoxicated in one sense and not |
he least Ill another. Had my inebriation
Jeen of the usual character | should have lost
he greater portion of my remembrance of
what occurred, and should have been help
ess i'll limbs and incapable of locomotion,
peech, or intelligent intercourse with others.
Involved in this experience must be some
cerebral functions that were not operated in
| normal manner The phenomena of the ex-
'erience point to brain conditions that are
title or not at all known. and whose possibI.
esults are innumerable and likely 10 be start
ing. Assuming the truth of INV conclusion
hat while in this dual condition there was
ne part Of me-the dominant part-that was
ble TO transact business. TO have the appear
nee of entire sobriety, it is easy TO conceive
i.uations in which broader CONSEQUENCES
night have ensued. II is possible TO fancy
hat while thus conditioned | might have
lgned notes, contracted a marriage, committed
irceny, or even murder. without having the
ightest consciousness of it when l resumed
ny normal state.
l have experienced the ordinary and com
ION results of the average form of inebriety
ften enough 10 be entirely prepared to re-
love my Dublin journey so far from the
erebral domain Of the other | make this
vowal concerning an experience in the
fects of intoxicants the more readily in view
the fact that for many years | have been a
'tal abstinent in regard to every form Of
not exclusive even Of cider